Create a black and white studio portrait.
Subject: a young man seated on a plain wooden chair turned backwards, full-length. Dark curly hair
worn short with volume at the crown and loose curls falling at the forehead. Clean-shaven, defined
brows. He wears a fitted black sleeveless tank and loose black wide-leg trousers that break over
bare feet or plain shoes.
Action: straddling the chair facing camera with the slatted backrest in front of him, knees wide
and both feet flat on the floor. Both forearms rest along the top rail of the backrest — the left
arm bent up so his head leans onto his left hand at the temple with the fingers loosely curled, the
right forearm lying flat across the rail with the hand relaxed and hanging over the far side. Head
tilted 15 degrees to his right into the propping hand, chin level, direct steady gaze into the
lens, lips closed, expression calm and unguarded.
Setting: a pale cloth backdrop hung loosely behind him with soft irregular folds and creases
running vertically through it, pooling onto the floor beneath and around the chair legs, no props
or furniture beyond the chair.
Visual style: photoreal black and white portrait photography, soft graded mid-tones, deep but open
blacks in the clothing, natural skin texture with visible pores and fine arm hair, fine film grain.
Composition: vertical frame, camera at chest height, subject centred and full-length with the chair
back crossing the middle of the frame, his head in the upper third, chair legs and his feet near
the lower edge.
Lighting: soft broad key from the front left with gentle fill from the right, soft shadow under the
jaw, along the arms and beneath the chair, low contrast, gentle falloff into the folds of the
backdrop.
Text inside: none.
Constraints: never turn the chair the right way round or sit him normally — he straddles it
backwards, never lower the propping hand from his temple, never bring the knees together, never
lift the forearms from the backrest, never smile or part the lips, never look away from the lens,
never render in colour or add a colour tint, never crop the feet or the chair legs, never smooth or
airbrush the skin, never flatten the backdrop into a seamless wall — the folds and creases stay
visible, never add hard directional light.
Output: 2:3 vertical.
